Two months ago, my girlfriend asked me to fix her laptop.

It was acting funny, and the video card was acting up. After asking for help to several people, she came to me. And, that's how war began:

Laptop 1 - 0 Lira

I found out it had a partition called "PQservice", which was supposed to have all the stuff I needed to reformat her computer (e.g. drivers, &c.). After I reformatted her computer, I found out I had to install a myriad of programs in order to see that bloody partition. Once I saw that partition, I realised I couldn't access it

Laptop 2 - 0 Lira

So, I finally managed to access that partition. There were pretty files called "autoexec.bat" and "config.sys". I thought all I had to do was burning a CD with all that and it would be over.

Laptop 3 - 0 Lira

After burning the disc, I run her laptop's setup program and - it refuses to boot from the disc. It just won't let me do it. I'm now holding the disc, with a blank stare in my face, wondering what I've done wrong.

How will this end? Will I manage to reformat her computer safely? Will I ever fix her computer? Will someone help me?

Wait for the next chapter!

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uhhh if youre l33t youll have several copies of a bootable windows disk because half the time they are missing a key file and you need to disk swap and then disk swap back because the disk you just used is alssso missing a file...

then youre fine.

make sure you get the key before formatting though

I forgot to mention that.

I did reformat her computer already without having the files in hand, and Windows is running smoothly. But, it doesn't play any sounds because it can't find the drivers... that's my war: I fight for drivers!!!

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira I forgot to mention that. I did reformat her computer already without having the files in hand, and Windows is running smoothly. But, it doesn't play any sounds because it can't find the drivers... that's my war: I fight for drivers!!!

check with the manufacturer website of the laptop they may have a driver pack for the model

quote:

Originally posted by jdat check with the manufacturer website of the laptop they may have a driver pack for the model

Done that already. The bastards from Toshiba want us to call them in Japan because they can't solve the problems by e-mail, and they don't offer the drivers on-line (as they come with the computer).

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kill them all.

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What model is the laptop? You mentioned Toshiba; maybe the drivers are online but not easily available.

One of my friends got a Toshiba laptop recently and it came with loads of useless extraneous stuff on it. Short story, downloaded drivers and all software necessary (very important if you don't have another computer from which to download these), formatted with my own Windows CD and then changed key to the provided (Microsoft has a tool for this).

I guess the story isn't really relevant since it doesn't add anything helpful, so here are some things to consider:

1. in order to boot from CD, you may have to change the boot order in the BIOS, or press some key to choose which device to boot from.

2. the backup/restore partition is most likely a hidden FAT32 partition. Reason why it's hidden is so it doesn't appear in Windows and confuse the user. Manufacturers really should provide optical restore media (eg. DVD with the same contents) rather than just dump it onto the hard drive. Toshiba has an option to create rescue discs, but it spans something like 4-5 CDs or 2 DVDs- something that it should have provided in the first place.

Try making sure you're choosing to boot from CD; that may be the culprit. Feel free to post a follow-up or PM me if you need some more information or assistance.

12 days have passed, and I'm back trying to fix this laptop. I'm now looking at it, as I type. After reading AnomalyConcept's post, I'm wiser (and, after having some help from jdat, I'm better equiped). After looking for them, I confirmed the fact that there are no drivers on-line. The laptop has not yet surrended.

1. I finally found out how to but from the CD. Boot order has been changed (it now first looks for the CD and then, only then, it looks for the hard drive). I even found Windows' product key (which is a completely different issue, I know).

2. The computer I keep calling Toshiba is actually a Sharp Muramasa (my bad ). I finally retrieved all the stuff from the hidden partition: I can see all the things I need. I even found a program called PowerQuest EasyRestore, although it doesn't seem to run properly. Unfortunately, the license is in Japanese and doesn't seem to contain any "how to's". No problem, I'm trying to gather as much info as I can on this program.

I'm not gonna give up, rar!

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oO. That's one thin laptop.

EDIT: Try this page- http://support.sharp.co.jp/mebius/index_content.shtml
It's the support page for Sharp's line of Mebius laptops (which I suspect the one you're operating on is). Right under the header, there's a Flash app. that looks like three panes. First choose the series of the notebook, then the model, and click the button on the bottom right. It should take you to the product/support page of that notebook.

On the left column, 2nd divider, there will probably be a link labeled 'BIOS'. Right above that should be a link to drivers. Don't get your hopes up too much, because the one I checked didn't have any drivers available for download. =(

I used Google's language tools to translate the pages (since I can't read Japanese), but the individual product pages seem to either use session variables or cookies to remember the series/model chosen, so google translate doesn't work in that regard. You can always copy/paste the text into the translation box, though.

Here's another helpful hint: hover over a link and take a peek at the status bar. Even though the page is in Japanese, the links are relatively readable in English.

Hope this helps, and again, good luck!

Last edited by AnomalyConcept on Jan-17-2007 at 03:50